24 Under 24

24 Under 24: #1 Darren Mattocks, Vancouver Whitecaps

24 Under 24 (2012): #1 Darren Mattocks (IMAGE)
<h1> 1. <a href="/players/darren-mattocks" target="_blank">Darren Mattocks</a></h1><a class="twitter-follow-button" href="https://twitter.com/DarrenMattocks" target="_blank">Follow@DarrenMattocks</a><strong>Pos: F | Vancouver Whitecaps | Age: 22</strong><p>Electric. When Vancouver rookie Darren Mattocks is on the field, things happen. Sometimes it&rsquo;s the extraordinary, like his goal in Portland or his &ldquo;Air Mattocks&rdquo; leap in Toronto. But there&rsquo;s also the combustible that comes with the Jamaican: the feistiness, the cards and that glare. He oozes self-belief and confidence. He knows the next goal is only minutes away. It&rsquo;s that attitude that led the No. 2 overall SuperDraft pick to react this way after a preseason goal against Montreal: &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t choose me No. 1, and I showed them they made a mistake.&rdquo; If he can help Vancouver become the first Canadian team ever to make the MLS Cup playoffs, he&rsquo;ll have made his case loud and clear.</p><p><strong>What the TDs and coaches like:</strong> &ldquo;Phenomenal talent &hellip; He has tremendous physical tools and he&rsquo;s got a nose for the goal &hellip; He is an exciting player &hellip; He has explosive speed &hellip; He&rsquo;s great in the air and can score all kinds of goals &hellip; He&rsquo;s a real handful for defenders and he&rsquo;s a very exciting prospect. &hellip; When we scouted him in college, we knew that he&rsquo;s a special player &hellip; Mattocks is special &hellip; His top end, his ceiling, is much higher than a lot of other young guys in this league right now &hellip; He&rsquo;s got poise, he&rsquo;s got pace, he has wonderful athletic ability and he has a nose for the goal &hellip; A tremendous athlete, makes intelligent runs and is good in 1v1 situations &hellip; main asset is his speed, has a nose for the slashing run &hellip; He&rsquo;s going to be great in the MLS. He&rsquo;ll become a terrific player.&rdquo;</p><p><strong>Where TDs and coaches want improvement: </strong>&ldquo;The question is going to be his temperament. Can he remain calm? Can he stay focused in the game? &hellip; As a forward, when you&rsquo;re good, you become a marked man. This is a physical league. Can he, week-in, week-out, be mentally tough enough to deal with that? That&rsquo;s going to be the question mark with him. &hellip; I think once he figures out the game and matures a little bit as a kid, I think the sky&rsquo;s the limit for a kid like that &hellip; For him, it&rsquo;s just about getting the opportunity to play &hellip; The things he needs to work on are probably his finishing and practicing the normal stuff &hellip; He&rsquo;s a good finisher, but he can be wild at times ... Lacks maturity and overall defensive awareness ... Needs to learn what he has to do in case of a turnover ... Not a great header of the ball in the box ... With some fine-tuning, he can become a complete player.&rdquo;</p><p><strong>Opta Says:</strong> Only one player younger than 24 has more goals than Darren Mattocks (7) in MLS this year (Houston&rsquo;s Will Bruin with 11).</p><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="226" id="cf7eef0oi" name="cf7eef0on" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://p.mlssoccer.com/SAu5a/video/1173882/league_2012-09-21-050722.640hq.mp4"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="226" id="cf7eef0ei" name="cf7eef0en" src="http://p.mlssoccer.com/SAu5a/video/1173882/league_2012-09-21-050722.640hq.mp4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400"></object>
<span style="font-size: 12px;">Tale of the Tape</span>
Last Year in 24U24: N/A
Fan Ranking: #5
Castrol Index (as of 9/21/12): #28


<span style="font-size: 12px;">2012 Stats</span>
Matches played: 17
Matches started: 12
Goals: 7
Assists: 1
24 Under 24: #1 Darren Mattocks, Vancouver Whitecaps -
<span style="font-size: 12px;">Related Content</span>
<ul><li><strong>WATCH:</strong><a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/video/2012/07/11/goal-mattocks-climbs-over-kocic-equalizer" target="_blank">Mattocks&#39; epic leaping goal in Toronto</a></li><li><strong>READ:</strong><a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/08/27/rennie-mattocks-cant-improve-when-hes-suspended" target="_blank">Rennie: Mattocks can&#39;t improve when suspended</a></li><li><strong>WATCH:</strong><a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/video/2012/07/04/goal-mattocks-great-finish" target="_blank">Another great finish by Mattocks vs. Colorado</a></li><li><strong>READ:</strong><a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/08/15/rookie-report-home-cooking-helps-mattocks-shine" target="_blank">Home cooking helps Mattocks shine</a></li></ul>

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